


A little Redemption

by Literate_Insomniac



Category: Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fix-It, Spoilers, Team Katherine, The feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-17
Updated: 2014-03-17
Packaged: 2018-01-16 01:28:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1326691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Literate_Insomniac/pseuds/Literate_Insomniac
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Where Stefan shows a some compassion towards Katherine at the end of it all. </p>
<p>Alternate scene from Season 5 Episode 15 "Gone Girl". Implies a different sort of dynamic between Stefan and Katherine.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A little Redemption

The tears were hot on Katherine’s cheeks as Nadia’s skin began to turn grey. She had thought she’d felt the worst kind of pain, but really, there was nothing as agonizing as watching your own child desiccate before your very eyes… knowing you could have stopped it if you’d tried harder. She had tried to make a break for it at the very end, though Damon had been waiting to stop her. Inconvenient as ever.

“So,” She said as she stepped back into the Salvatore’s living room. “Who’s got the knife?” She looks from gangly teen to gangly teen as they all stare at her blankly, though as her eyes fall on Stefan he pulls the traveler’s knife out of his back pocket. Katherine nods, slowly coming to terms with what is about to happen to her as she takes hesitant strides towards the younger Salvatore.

“Does the peanut gallery really have to be here?” She asks, looking around the rest of the room. “I’d like to die with at least a little dignity.”

“Fat chance Kitty-Kat-“ Damon started to say, with Tyler beside him starting to square up. To Katherine’s great surprise it was Caroline who came to her aid.

“Just shut up Damon.” The blonde sighed, starting to herd people out of the room. “You may be sick and twisted but that’s no excuse to sink to her level.” That seemed to satisfy, and the others began to move with her.

Katherine held up her hand, “Not you Bon-Bon.” She said, “You stay.” She turned to look at the anchor, who stared back confusedly. “I don’t want any time to second guess myself. I don’t want to linger here and watch the world go by. As soon as that knife goes in I’m crossing over.” She said quietly. That settled she turned back to Stefan, who had been looking at Nadia while Caroline was shoving Damon out of the room. Having her attention forced back to her child made the tears come back with a vengeance. “Great, I’m gonna die with runny mascara.” She muttered under her breath.

Stefan turned to her, “What you did for her… it was the right thing. Giving her that moment of peace.”

“Yeah well, I don’t think it’s quite enough to get me mother of the year. Stop trying to console me about her. Just kill me so I don’t have the time to mourn.”

Stefan shook his head, “No, what I mean is…” He sighed, “You asked me once what it would take to get a little redemption around here. I think that was it.” He said.

She looked up at him, at that beautiful face she had wanted for over five hundred years. For two thousand years if you believed in all that shadow-self crap. “What?”

“You let her die happy,” He said. “I… do you want the same kind of peace?”

Katherine stared up at him, slack jawed. “Yes,” She finally said. “Yes, I do.”

Stefan nodded and stepped forward to rest his hand on the side of Katherine’s face. As he spoke a vision began to form behind her eyes. “You’re in Bulgaria in the fifteen hundreds.” He began. “The sun has come up the next morning and Nadia is taking you down to the river to see the fort she built the previous day.”

_There she was, young and happy with her child. Both of them smiling and laughing._

“When you get down to the river bank you see a man sitting there by the fort. It’s me, well, not me. The third Salvatore doppelgänger, so close enough to be me.”

_There was a man sitting on the bank, dark hair and a chiseled jaw, dressed in simple clothes with a pack over his shoulder._

“He rises as he sees you, and says he was walking along the bank to the next town, but when he saw such fine craftsmanship he had to stop and marvel at it. Nadia laughs and hurries forward, showing you all the ins and outs of the small fort she’s made.”

_The shadow-Stefan stands off to the side, watching mother and child together, until Nadia invites him to come play as well. Mother and child laugh together with their new friend._

“I have some rations in my pack, and you’ve brought food with you for a picnic by the river. We break bread together and talk, and play with Nadia well into the sunset. I tell you I’ll never be able to make it to the next town before dark, but you say that’s alright and invite me to come home with the two of you.”

_The three walk back to the small cottage together. Shadow-Stefan carrying the tired Nadia on his back. Katerina puts her child to bed then steps out onto the porch with Stefan._

“We sit out on the porch with some tea and talk well into the night. We’ve only just met, but it feels like we’ve known each other for a thousand years.”

_The next morning it is Nadia bounding around the porch that wakes the two of them up._

“And I never really make it to the next town. I just stay with you. We’re happy together, at peace with our child. We have no idea what vampires and werewolves are, nothing about curses or ancient spells. It’s just us, together and at peace.”

_Shadow-Stefan and Katerina grow old side by side as Nadia grows into a beautiful young woman, tough, smart and kind like her mother. Every night the two of the lay side by side in bed and talk till they can hardly keep their eyes open. And every night shadow-Stefan opens his arms for Katerina and draws her close to him. He tips her chin up to bring their lips close…_

By now Stefan held Katherine in his arms, lips pressed against her hair “Goodnight, and sleep well.” Stefan says, gently pressing his lips to Katherine’s as he lets the dream guide her off. He raises his hand slightly so the knife points down towards her back. “I love you, Katerina.”

_Katerina smiles and curls up into her loves arms. Safe and content just as she is every night._

Stefan drives the Knife into Katherine’s heart, holding her tight as she falters against him and lets out a whimper of pain. Despite his best efforts, tears begin to run down his cheeks, but he gets the feeling they aren’t just his.

When the pain has passed Katherine rises up slightly to look at Stefan, her eyes lid _and Katerina Petrova lets out a shallow, contented sigh. Her eyes close and she falls asleep in her love’s arms. There to wake beside him the next morning._


End file.
